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Daily Herald
September 20, 2002
By David R. Kazak
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Dozens of landowners in Kane and Kendall counties - all with a state-imposed expressway corridor marked on their
deeds - filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to have the state erase that mark.
At issue is a 36-mile-long corridor stretching from I-80 near Minooka in Grundy County, north through Kendall County
and ending at I-88 near the tiny town of Kaneville in western Kane County.
After months of contentious debate between the state, Kane County leaders and affected landowners, IDOT recorded
the 400-foot-wide corridor on the deeds of landowners in the corridor's path.
State officials said corridor protection is needed to keep the land clear of major developments. Under the state
law that allows for expressway corridor protection, landowners must tell IDOT if they plan to build on the corridor,
no matter if the construction is a small shed or a large-scale development.
Once the state is notified, officials must let the homeowner know if the construction can proceed. If the state
doesn't want the development to happen on the corridor, then it must buy the land.
But this whole process is nothing more than an illegal and unconstitutional condemnation, said Tim Dwyer, a St.
Charles attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the landowners.
"The issue is whether you can freeze this (expressway) corridor, without due process, without compensation,
without any declaration of need," Dwyer said.
Richard Adorjan, spokesman for Illinois Transportation Secretary Kirk Brown, said he could not comment on specific
charges in the lawsuit, but he did say he wasn't surprised by the legal challenge.
"With any large-scale infrastructure project today, you can expect a lawsuit," he said. "We're simply
living in a lawsuit-happy society.
"We feel we have proceeded in accordance with the law, and now the matter will have to be settled in court,"
Adorjan said.
Specifically, the lawsuit accuses IDOT of failing to show a need for the expressway, something called for in the
law authorizing corridor protection. As such, opponents want the corridor protection removed from their deeds.
The lawsuit also claims the state violated the due process rights of the landowners and that the corridor is essentially
a taking of land by IDOT.
If successful, the suit would eliminate the corridor, making it difficult for the state to build a highway because
homes or other development could be in the path of the so-called Prairie Parkway expressway.
Still, the lawsuit sends a message, said Jan Strasma, spokesman of the expressway opposition group Citizens Against
the Sprawlway.
"It sends a message to IDOT that we intend to pursue our opposition to the beltway on all available fronts,"
he said.